Duke of Sin (Maiden Lane, #10) in Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group

May 30, 2016 Bambi Unbridled rated it it was amazing

Shelves: arc-netgalley, million-page-challenge, romance-historical, read-2016

Please forgive me, for I have been living under a rock. This is my first read from Elizabeth Hoyt, and I so wish I would have picked her up before now! But one good thing about finding a stellar author late in the game is that you have their whole backlist of books to work through instead of waiting around months or a year for a new release! I will definitely be working through this lady's backlist because I totally dug her writing style.

[A] housekeeper always looked completely neat, even wh

Please forgive me, for I have been living under a rock. This is my first read from Elizabeth Hoyt, and I so wish I would have picked her up before now! But one good thing about finding a stellar author late in the game is that you have their whole backlist of books to work through instead of waiting around months or a year for a new release! I will definitely be working through this lady's backlist because I totally dug her writing style.

[A] housekeeper always looked completely neat, even when the master had just bitten her.

The heroine of this tenth installment of the Maiden Lane series, Bridget Crumb, is a no-nonsense utterly practical housekeeper. As the bastard daughter of a society matron, Bridget was hidden away as a child to be raised by foster parents, and she entered into service at twelve years old. But now Bridget's birth mother has asked for help, and Bridget is using her housekeeping job as a cover for her amateur sleuthing and spying, trying to recover items with which her employer is blackmailing people. When Bridge is discovered snooping by the dastardly duke, she finds herself in over her head, and at risk of losing her heart. Bridget was a good solid heroine. She wasn't missish or timid around the arrogant and wicked rogue, and her stubborn and defiant personality drew Valentine to her like a moth to a flame. I liked that she ended up being the moral compass and heart of our depraved duke.

You have to kill the thing you love or they'll use it against you.

Valentine Napier, Duke of Montgomery is one of the edgiest historical heroes that I have read. I had my reservations about his character at first. He is darkly depraved and debauched. He was utterly wicked. He was downright gnaw-tee y'all! But then you discover that Valentine is a tortured hero who endured a horrendous childhood and all that debauchery can be laid at the feet of his disgusting and evil parents. Truly vile creatures. The things that Val endured growing up seem to have made him a little mad as well, and I am a sucker for a mad hero. Some of my favorite parts of the book were Val's dramatics, like when he railed at his servants:

Away! Away, you pestilence, you flies, you midges of ruination! Get thee back to thy kitchens of destruction and God damn thy lips and thy words and thine eyes! Away, I say, and never come again! A plague and a flood of amphibians upon the lot of you!

I also loved Val's cunning and divisiveness; he was truly a worthy adversary for those members of the ton whom he was blackmailing or providing justice for their poor behavior. I even loved that he confronted Bridget's mother and brother. While he may not have went about it in the best way, he really was standing up for Bridget against a mother's poor choices.

Even though our heroine is a housekeeper, this story didn't quite have the feel of a rags-to-riches romance. I liked that Val and Bridget seemed to better each other. While Bridget definitely had more work to do with Val's wickedness... it was nice to see her stand up for herself and confront her mother about the choices she made. I don't think Bridget would have ever spoken up were it not for Val's machinations that forced the issue. Amazingly, Val came to desire and almost crave the opinion of his very opinionated housekeeper. She became his guiding light out of the darkness of his childhood.

While I would not go so far as to say that Valentine was redeemed, there was so much insight into his past and the reasons for his behavior that you almost forgive him for all his bad acts, especially when you start really looking at his blackmail "victims". The only one I can say who was truly innocent was Hippolyta, though I never quite understood what he was actually blackmailing her with, or the significance of that miniature. I would have liked to see more of the Lords of Chaos get their comeuppance though. Perhaps Hugh Fitzroy, Duke of Kyle, will continue to target those individuals in the next book, Duke of Pleasure.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Grand Central Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 4.5 stars / 4 flames. Full review posted at Bambi Unbridled.

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Apr 14, 2016 Crista rated it really liked it

Shelves: arc, bad-boys, historical, kindle, netgalley, hot, series, 4-star

4 stars!

Duke of Sin is book 10 of Elizabeth Hoyt’s brilliant Maiden Lane series. It can be read as a standalone, but the characters do appear in other books and readers may miss some backstory if not familiar with the previous books. On the other hand, this book is VERY different from all other books in the series, so it might actually work to read it all by itself.

Valentine Napier, the Duke of Montgomery is not a nice man. He is definitely the anti-hero and has done some truly despicable things ...more

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Aug 14, 2016 Izy rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2016, historical

Rating ~ 4.5 stars

I loved this one! Both the hero and the heroine were such unique characters. He was unapologizing anti hero and she was a wonderful fierce woman.

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Dec 13, 2015 KarenF rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical, romance, kindle

This was close to a 5 star read from me. I tend to love Elizabeth Hoyt and I can forgive a lot more in fictional characters but I couldn't quite get there with Val. Don't get me wrong, I actually loved his internal thoughts in a lot of cases (should I care about that? Of course not! I'm a Duke and I'm glorious!) and I liked the relationship with Bridget. The thing that keeps is from being an all time fave, the thing I can't get past. (view spoiler) ...more

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